One interesting thing about Paradox’s games, is that you don’t really get screens saying “You Win!” or “You Lose!”. This is more noticeable in Europa Universalis, but it is still largely true in Hearts of Iron. You are mostly left to your own outlook as to when you have genuinely won. Or lost. Back in late 1938, before I declared war against the Allies, I delineated four zones of naval operation, ranked in order of importance. Zone 1 is my primary supply zone, and is game critical, while zone 4 is the largely useless islands of Micronesia, while zones 2 and 3 are flexible, and are intended to be used for offensive or defensive operations, depending on the situation. I if wind up having to use my entire navy to defend zone 1, and can only achieve a stalemate doing so, then I would consider the game lost.
Thus, by the middle of July I find myself in a critical situation. Over the last six months of war, I have been attempting to push supplies into the Philippines, Borneo, and Indochina, and have been losing convoys at a steady rate. I am now down to only seven convoys, which are responsible for all of my supply and resource shipments throughout the empire. I am steadily building more, but they trickle in slowly, and are barely able to keep any operations going. I have mercifully avoided having to contend with the Americans so far, but it remains ever at the back of my mind that my current naval problems are being caused by only half of my enemies’ total strength. That situation is bound to change, and for the worse.
So, the potentially game-ending crisis arises on July 16th, when I receive word the Americans are storming Naha. Naha is the port of the Ryukyu Islands. It is in the center of Zone 1, and is a great staging area for an invasion of the mainland, as well as a base for easy and perpetual raiding of my most critical routes between Japan and China. If the United States is able to guard this port with a large fleet and air support, it's game over.
So, I review my available forces. 10 Kaigun, my best fleet, is on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin. On the 18th the Kaga earns the honor of sinking the first aircraft carrier of the war, the British escort carrier Hermes, but their flight crews are too spent to help against the more urgent threat. 11 Kaigun, likewise, is still recovering in Hong Kong from June’s exertions, and is not likely to be helpful. 1 and 3 Kaigun are in the best shape, and had been scheduled to go on raider-hunting duty near Singapore. Instead, they are diverted to Naha, to see what we can do to stave off certain defeat.
The odds are bad. The Americans boast a full-strength aircraft carrier, the Saratoga, as well as six battleships. By comparison, we have three battleships, a battle-cruiser, a few heavy cruisers, and some light cruisers. We have no troops in the Ryukyu Islands, but most of 1 Homen-Gun is stationed in western Kyushu. It will be impossible to prevent the landing of American troops. By itself, that is not a problem; the Dutch performed a similar mission back in March. The problem now, however, is that the Americans are fully able to fend off counter-invasions with a large and well composed fleet. We have no choice but to pitch into them as quickly as possible, before they are able to bring in even more ships.
The battle begins on the 19th, while the landing is still in progress. The fighting is bitter and intense from the start. Their battleships open by firing upon our light cruisers, which are first to come in range. Our cruisers are battered mercilessly, but are able to fade back as our larger gunships come up and begin firing. This is the key point in the battle, and demonstrates completely how fleet composition can make or break a battle. Our escorts took the brunt of the early firing, and served to distract the Americans. As they began to fade back, the American battleships attempted to pursue, and had trouble picking new targets when our cruisers outdistanced them. Our heavier ships, however, arriving later in the battle, immediately zero in on the American capital ships, while his escorts stay in the rear to guard the aircraft carrier and transports. The battle immediately changes course, as we begin to tear through the ranks of the Americans. They had advanced so far in pursuit of our escorts that they find themselves completely unable to retreat when they need to. Overextended, they are sunk, one at a time, until the last one, the California, is able to limp the rear, aflame, taking on water, and barely afloat. When the smoke clears, we take stock of the most crucial battle of the game. Our heavy cruiser Takao and light cruisers Mogami and Naka are sunk, and most of the remaining fleet are heavily damaged. Oddly, our battleships are barely scratched, and the Nagato escapes without so much as a chip of paint. The Americans are far less fortunate. We completely sink five of the six battleships, namely the Texas, Arkansas, New York, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The California escapes with a sliver of hull strength remaining, and at the very least will spend months in dry dock. The Tennessee also happened to be the pride of the American navy, and yields a nice little bonus to us. Their aircraft carrier, transports and escorts remained in the rear throughout the battle, and escaped unscathed.
With the ships of 1 & 3 Kaigun in dire need of repairs, we send in 2 & 11 Kaigun to attempt to finish the job. It is likely the CAGs from the Saratoga are exhausted, thus making port strikes from 11 Kaigun a distinct possibility. The Americans begin a series of breakout attempts from Naha. They lose two destroyers during the first attempt on the 21st. Another attempt on the 24th costs them another four destroyers, but they are able to make it into the open sea. We pursue them and hit them again the next day, finally sinking the California, but the transports and Saratoga are able to make a clean get away. The battle comes to an end as I Gun is brought in for a perfunctory land battle, and forces the surrender of the (now stranded) American land forces.
Eastward, the Americans further prove their determination by mounting a large attack against Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima is in Zone 3; it is therefore not critical, but if the Americans are able to capture it, it would greater improve their future odds. Further complicating the situation is the fact that we are now running low on available, healthy fleets. I send out 4 & 5 Kaigun, both of which still have a few damaged ships, to deal with the situation. On the island itself I have two square divisions of garrison troops, who will be able to hold off the invading forces for awhile. Like the Ryukyu invasion fleet, this fleet is heavy on capital ships, and light on escorts. They have an aircraft carrier, the Lexington, three battleships, two transports and only two destroyers for escorts. The naval battle develops in a very similar vein, and has happily similar results. After a few days of battle on both land and sea, the Americans retreat on the 26th. We lose the heavy cruiser Maya, while they lose all three battleships, the Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The landing consequently collapses, with 616 of our chindai killed, and 1655 of their 42,000 man invasion force killed.
As at Ryukyu, we are reluctant to let the Americans escape; we pursue aggressively, bringing in 2 Kaigun, which is still relatively healthy, from Ryukyu. They are able to track down the American fleet on the 31st; with the main gunships now gone and the Lexington’s aircrews exhausted, we drive straight into the core of the fleet, and are able to sink a destroyer, a transport, and the Lexington itself, the first full carrier of the war to be sunk. Two days later, we track down the remaining ships, a destroyer and a transport, and sink them as well, thus completely obliterating the entire invasion force.
The losses of the two American invasions are crippling to them. At the beginning of the war, I estimate that they had four full aircraft carriers, ten battleships, and 16 heavy cruisers, along with assorted lesser ships. In about two weeks, then, we sank 25% of their aircraft carriers and 90% of their battleships, for a total of over 70% of their total capital ships. The heavy cruisers remain, but are little threat to my larger gunships. Likewise they still have at least three aircraft carriers, which is more ominous. But these lack staying power, especially this early in the war, and are likely to be used primarily for defense for the near future.
There are a few lessons to learn from the various invasion attempts the Allies have conducted thus far. First, the Dutch invasions illustrate how it is worse than useless to launch an invasion with significantly inferior forces. Their land forces, and virtually their entire navy, were destroyed in the attempt, all at little gain. The Americans learned this lesson, and came in with a much larger force. However, their invasions were poorly timed; our navy, while not in great shape, was still reasonably well rested and ready to answer the challenge. Worse yet, they failed to properly screen their main gunships, and consequently paid a very heavy, and unnecessary, price. Had they included a few heavy or light cruisers, or even attacked a few weeks earlier, the outcome would have been quite different, and I would be writing the obituary of my empire right now, instead of just looking up how to spell the word obituary.
And so July comes to a close. Without a doubt it will go in the history books as the most significant month of the war. The first half of the month saw complete success in Vietnam, including the capture of 80,000 French soldiers and establishment of complete control of the Gulf of Tonkin. This was an expected success. The second half of the month saw even greater gains, no less valuable for being unexpected. We sink a huge portion of the American navy, and capture or kill around 50,000 of their troops involved in an ill-advised invasion attempt. The Iwo Jima invasion force in particular was completely destroyed, and its commander, the formidable Admiral King, is presumed lost at sea. Conversely, our naval officers are due for promotions, with Ozawa and Yamamoto reaching skill level seven, and consequently being made full Admirals, and several other officers being promoted to Vice Admiral.
Things are going quite well for us now. We take a moment for a bit of a breather, while our troops are shuffled around in Indochina, our ships get hammered and welded back into shape, and the Allies slink back to their homes to lick their wounds. This, however, is the calm before the storm, as we have word that things are about to heat up dramatically in Europe. The Allies are about to enter a period of darkness from which they will likely never return. In the East, however, the rising sun shines brightly indeed.
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